First Drive: 2015 Volvo V60 Cross Country
I’m a practical guy; always have been.
I wear a carry-all (read: fanny pack) when I travel, a bucket hat in the sun, and jeans whenever possible.
It’s for all of these reasons that, after a long weekend behind the wheel, I came to appreciate the sheer sensibility of the 2015 Volvo V60 Cross Country.
Let’s just get this out of the way now: This is not the XC60, Volvo’s compact crossover built on the same platform.
It’s also not the V60 that it borrows its body from.
What the V60 Cross Country is, however, is a bit of a middle point between those two vehicles—a rugged wagon that’s just as comfortable on the highway as it is the light trails that lead the way to your favourite camping spot.
The V60 Cross Country sits a few inches taller than the V60, giving both driver and passenger a commanding view of the road ahead while basking in the plush leather surroundings familiar to Volvo fans everywhere.
Speaking of leather, the V60 Cross Country I drove was fitted with a beautiful two-tone tan and black combo that was pleasing to both the eyes and the touch.
Two concerns about seating did, however, arise: First and foremost, the bolsters in both front seats are a touch on the narrow side—those built like linebackers need not apply.
The second concern is with the beautiful tan leather that had some light denim staining on the seating surfaces.
With only 1,200 kilometres on the car, I can only imagine what that seat will look like after, say, 100,000 kilometres of daily use.
Keep a canister of leather wipes close by.
While some complaints about the button-heavy centre stack are floating around in the ether, I found it quite easy to navigate and use while stationary or driving.
Top it off Wi-Fi hotspot connectivity and a slick instrument interface that is changeable depending on mood and driving style, and I look at the V60 Cross Country not as dated but rather a symbol of both where we are and where we’re headed in terms of vehicle controls.
I did take issue, however, with the lack of touch sensitivity on the car’s seven-inch infotainment screen.
While most of the system’s features don’t require touch interaction to function well, I found the navigation system tough to use, particularly when panning on the map.
What the V60 Cross Country lacks in rear leg room—those with growing children or regular backseat passengers may want to look at the larger XC70—it more than makes up for with cargo room.
Keep the rear seats up, and it has ample room for groceries, suitcases, or whatever else you need to throw in the boot.
Fold the rear seats down, however, and cargo space jumps to 1,240 litres, or room to easily transport a flatscreen TV—or enough camera equipment to shoot a segment for the show before a Sunday family dinner.
Outside, you get classic Volvo wagon looks with a touch of ruggedness thanks to the car’s black-clad fender arches and skid plates front and rear.
Under the hood lies Volvo’s 2.5-litre turbocharged inline five-cylinder mated to a six-speed automatic transmission with sport mode.
The V60 Cross Country puts its respectable 250 horsepower and 266 lb.-ft. of torque down through all four wheels—the Haldex all-wheel drive system that underpins the car can send as much as 50 per cent of power to the rear wheels if the fronts start to slip—though it certainly isn’t the quickest wagon in Volvo’s stable.
(That title, as is expected, belongs to the V60 Polestar edition. Heck, even the V60 T6 R-Design, which Graeme Fletcher drove last season, lays down impressive six-second 0 to 100 km/h times.)
Volvo claims the rugged wagon sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.4 seconds, which feels about right if not a touch slow.
The boosted five-cylinder makes plenty of nice noises as it blasts through the gears, though turbo lag is evident from both a standing start and while passing on the highway.
Fuel economy numbers provided by Volvo claim the V60 Cross Country burns 11.8L/100 km in town, and 9.1L/100 km on the highway.
This, again, sounds about right, and I found some highway drives returned numbers even better than that; fuel economy in the low to mid 8L/100 km range is achievable, but push the car above 115 km/h on a major route and expect numbers more in the neighbourhood of the 11L/100 km mark.
All things told, the V60 Cross Country serves many purposes, and serves them all quite well.
And with an MSRP starting at $44,100, it offers a lot of car—er, crossover—for a reasonable price.
It doesn’t get much more practical than that.